Santo Domingo.- The National Drugs Control Agency (DNCD) on Sunday lashed out at an interim judge of La Romana for releasing five Venezuelans arrested Thursday at La Romana International Airport, with 359 kilos of cocaine allegedly brought on a plane from their country.

The surprising release of the Venezuelans is the latest scandal involving an interim judges in drug trafficking and money laundering cases, where bribes are suspected.

“The sentence which releases outright Carlos Justiniano, 55; Jorge Henriquez, 44; Gregory Frias, 23; Gerardo Diaz, 38, and Jean Carlos Diaz, 35 handed down by Judge Aristida Mercedes is unfortunate, misleading and a stimulus for international drug trafficking and money laundering structures and bolsters their attempts to use the country as a bridge to move drug shipments to the United States and Europe,” the DNCD said in a statement.

It said the release encourages drug trafficking, significantly tarnishes the image of the Dominican justice, “which as we have said, it is committed to healthier interests, but a few, with actions like this, do a disservice to society,” the DNCD said.

The first four defendants were arrested at La Romana International Airport and the drug was seized inside a Cessna C404 airplane, registry YV2708, from Barquisimeto, Venezuela.

The drug was in 349 bricks in three suitcases and two bags hidden on the plane, the DNCD said, adding that the arrests were the result of several weeks of vigilance of the network.